“There is no reason to doubt that Mr Brown’s statement that he went into politics because of his horror at the effects of unemployment. Unfortunately, he forgot one of the few laws of political economy: that the road to unemployment is paved with work creation schemes. He is likely, therefore, to go down as something like the patron saint of unemployment.”
– Theodore Dalrymple, from “Not With A Bang But A Whimper”, essays on current affairs, page 79. The whole chapter from which this paragraph is taken is a brilliant summary of everthing that is wrong about the current prime minister.
There’s a website devoted to Theodore Dalrymple writings here
“There is no reason to doubt that Mr Brown’s statement that he went into politics because of his horror at the effects of unemployment. ”
He was unlikely to have got a job anywhere else was he?
Dalrymple is a gem. I have always found him an engrossing read.
The first law of economics is that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL). The first law of politics is to ignore the first law of economics.
A good post from J.P. (Theodore Dalrymple is a good man).
And good comments.